Submission Confirmations

Collaborative & Substantial brief submission...

LCA Christmas card submission...

Papyrus Submission

Project Report

The first brief I took on for the module was to design the LCA annual Christmas card. I chose this brief for a number of reasons. Firstly, this project is very similar to tasks that are given to junior designers in graphic firms and studios and so was good industry practice. The deadline was also only 3 days after I had read the brief, previously I had never taken on a project that had to be completed in such a short amount of time and so it was a huge learning curve. The final reason was that my interests in design are leaning towards print and so this brief would play to my strengths.

As I was pushed for time, my research for this brief came solely from the internet. If I had more time, I would have visited stores etc for primary research, I would have also tried harder to get hold of previous Christmas cards produced by LCA in order to get a good idea of what they tend to go for. In the short amount of time I had, I managed to come up with three possible designs and informed my final design based on feedback. The outcome has a professional finish and, when presented to a group of peers, received positive feedback on the relevance to LCA as a college, the overall christmassy look and the representation of Graphic  Design as a course. If I had more time during the production stage, I would have experimented with different stock, ensuring that I produced tester prints so I could have received more feedback and carried out further development.

The next smaller brief I took on was for Papyrus, a charity that helps young people having suicidal thoughts. The decision to take on this brief was informed by the fact that up until that point, I had only produced design work for myself. This brief was an opportunity to out my interests to one side and produce something for a real-world cause and to actually make a difference. Another reason was that I normally tend to stay away from illustrative briefs, however my intentions for the year are to broaden my skills and thought this was a good opportunity to do so.

I produced two final outcomes for this brief. One informed by research into the charity itself and one informed by my idea of ‘calm’ and illustrated in my own style. I approached the brief by trying to produce something appropriate for the brief and something that could potentially get chosen instead of producing something that I like or that follows my own interests. If I had more time during production, I would have developed my illustrations further as I felt they needed refining in terms of line weights etc. 

In evaluation of both these short briefs, they were huge learning curves for some of the same reasons. I gave myself only a couple of days to complete my responses to both briefs and this meant that I had to completely rethink my approach. Normally, I would try to gather as much research as possible before producing any work. However, I did not have the luxury of time and so I had to be efficient and balance research with production. In all, I think that I adapted well to the time pressure however it is definitely something that I need to experience more in order to improve as it is something that will be important in the industry. 

For my substantial brief, I chose the one set by Arjowiggins on the D&AD website. I chose to do this brief based on the fact that the aim was to champion the use of paper and this is an aspect of the design world that I am interested in and so I felt I could produce a strong solution. Unlike the shorter briefs, I had a lot more time with this project and so I approached it how I would normally. This involved extensive research in the form of primary and secondary. One way in which I adapted my approach was that research included looking at previous winners of D&AD awards to get an idea  of what I was up against. In terms of processes, this was the brief where I learnt the least as I was able to stick to what I know and had the freedom to do things my own way. The final outcome met all the aims I set out to achieve. One of these aims was to take my idea one step further as, from research, I discovered that this is often what makes people win the award. I did this by producing a multi-media product and is something that I hope will get noticed.

The last of the briefs was for studio brief 02 and required the putting together of a team of creatives to then take on a live brief. I out myself forward for the adobe brief as it asked to produce a series of posters. At the time, I had just undergone research into poster design for another module and it quickly became something I am interested in. One issue with choosing this brief was that it became obvious that it was preferred by Graphic Designers which resulted in us forming a team of only designers. We overcame this by demonstrating that we are all unique designers with differing skills and interests.

The overall role I took was the project manager. I took charge of producing the contract and took control of meetings and staying up to date with one another. I let the other group members play to their strengths in terms of computer skills. This process has taught me that I enjoy the director side of group projects the most. It also taught me how important a role like a creative director is to ensure a group works coherently and smoothly whilst playing to peoples strengths.

Evaluating the module as a whole, it is definitely the one in which I have learnt the most, both about myself as a designer as well as Graphic Design as a discipline. It was a valuable experience entering live briefs that are set by real companies around the country as it gave my work more significance and is useful for when I leave University. One thing I will do differently next year is to be more selective when choosing briefs and to make sure my decisions are well informed. One mistake I made this year was choosing the Adobe brief as it turned out to be very restrictive and so I did not enjoy taking it on as much as the other briefs. This taught me to read through briefs thoroughly before choosing them.

Life's a Pitch

Proposal...

Rationale

To host a small scale art and design exhibition along side live music & DJs held inside a student house, creating a relaxed and intimate environment. The aim is to take away some aspects of exhibitions that may put students off  attending them such as distance away from home and/or cost.

Appropriate audience and market

The target market is all students, not just creatives. This is due to the fact that the venue will be right in the heart of Hyde Park which is home to thousands of students from a number of different universities.

The combination of work, music and drinks will attract all students who are looking to have a relaxed drink, listen to music or to check out our work. 

Suitable Delivery system / platform / location / outlet

The exhibition will be held in the house of one of the members of our team, which ever is more suited to hosting a small show.

It being in a house will reduce cost and time for other students to access the show by being close by.

It will also reduce the cost for us as a collective as the venue wouldn’t cost anything, allowing spending else where

Potential Partners

One team member is good friends with the people who run Nord. We will use them as a partner to attract an audience as they already have a large following within the target audience.

We also know a number of other DJs who could perform at the exhibition

We will make use of the digital and traditional print facilities here at the College for things like promotional material like fliers and stickers as well as banners and signage for the house.

Team Structure

Barney - I will be in charge of managing the joint funds. I will also take responsibility for providing the food and drinks and decide how these two things will be available to attendees.

Theo - Theo will be in charge of promoting. Making students aware of the show including the online advertising as well as in person.

Alec - He will be in charge of contacting Nord to partner up with them. This will then inform our promotional stuff and music equipment. And in charge of the venue

Legal & Financial Obligations

As it will be held inside a student house, we will have to be wary of noise. However, the show will be put on in the afternoon/ late evening and we will make sure it will come to an end before people nearby are disturbed by noise or crowds.

People on the door accepting entry fees would be students themselves, further adding to the relaxed environment.

Financing

In terms of printing and producing work for the show, we will each be responsible for funding our own work. However, for other costs such as drinks/ food etc we will all contribute a sum.

Pay on entry - £2

Food & Drinks free

Presentation

Younger people living with Parkinson's

Researching Further

From my primary research, I have decided to aim my project at the younger people living with the disease. I will now be researching further into this area and exploring the support and publicity it gets at the moment to find out what more I can do with my work.

The diagnosis of young-onset Parkinson's disease is the same as idiopathic, or typical, Parkinson's disease except for the age of the patient. The average age of diagnosis is around 62. When an individual is diagnosed with PD before the age of 50, the disorder is called young-onset Parkinson's disease.

First, people who are affected by Parkinson's at a younger age experience the disease differently – they may be parents of young children, they may be at a different stage of their career and less able to deal with the challenges of a disabling condition, and they often have less time to engage in their own care. If you develop Parkinson's under age 50, your peers are more likely to be healthy and may struggle to deal with your illness more than an older group. Also, your doctor might not be familiar with Parkinson's.

Second, younger people are different from a medical and scientific perspective. The younger you are, the more likely it is that your disease is genetic or caused by exposure to a specific toxin.  Younger people have younger brains; if you have young-onset Parkinson's, your brain may be more responsive to exercise or other treatments that rely on your brain's ability to adapt to change – what scientists call "neuroplasticity."

Because of these issues, different scientists will refer to young-onset Parkinson's as starting at 40, 50 or even 55. Scientists focused on the social aspects of Parkinson's – dealing with job stress and families – may use 50 or 55. Scientists focused on genetic Parkinson's often use a younger age as the cut-off, typically 40. A group of patients who had onset before 40 is very likely to include people with genetic Parkinson's.

Already, there is a huge number of support groups aimed at younger people. These groups are called 'working age' groups as the members will often be trying to manage working life with the disease, something that is often overlooked due to the preconception that only older people who are out of work live with the disease.

Key points from research:

- Young-onset refer to people in their 40's and early 50's
- The focus is on balancing life with the condition. e.g. work and family
- Young-onset people will have more going on in their life, more responsibilities
- less able to deal with the disability condition because of those reasons
- Have less time to deal with their own care
Social Media Presence

Parkinson's UK alone have a page on all the major social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This helps younger people to engage with one another.

Below are some screen shots of the Parkinson's UK Facebook page. At a first glance, it is obvious that the emphasis is aimed at older people. This is evidenced in the photographs as they mainly feature older people.

The banners below are part of a campaign that has recently been running on their social media. The slogan of the campaign is to 'make history together' however in my opinion the tone of voice is all wrong. The images almost make you feel sorry for the people featured in them as they look depressed and down. I think this needs a lot of improving as the images should be about hope and togetherness. The average age of the people featured isn't too old but they should feature at least one younger person to lower the average and represent the younger people living with the disease.

Images such as the one below are a lot better as they communicate positivity and progress as opposed to making the viewer feel sorry for them. This is something I want to achieve through my own investigations.

Parkinson's Awareness Facebook Page
The cover image is an example of some of the worst graphic design I have ever seen and it only emphasises the neglect that the disease gets in some aspects such as social media.

Below is a T-shirt that is sold on the Facebook page that says 'I wear grey for Parkinson's aware'. Despite the awful design and misspelling of a word, the fact that the colour they chose was grey is beyond me.

Research - Parkinson's Disease

Research Presentation

Above are a few slides from a presentation I gave to a group of piers. Feedback is below...

Feedback:

- Focus on finding an aim

- what is it I want to achieve

- do I want to just raise awareness

- or do I want to raise money/ change opinions etc

- also keep focus of existing posters throughout project

  > maybe target this through outcome

- then present ideas to people - prove that the design is successful

- stop people turning away etc

News Coverage

There are a number of headlines surrounding the disease, however the number doesn't quite compare to that of other more high profile diseases. Although some of these headlines show promise in research progress, the truth is that progress is very slow surrounding cures and medicine.

Further Primary Research

To take my research further, I went down to my Dads house to talk to him and his wife as he has been dealing with Parkinson's for a number of years now. I wanted to throw some questions their way to get a better, first hand idea of the disease and the effects it has on people.

Notes:

- speak to Parkinson's UK

- young Parkinson's/on-set

- there are support groups - but majority of people there are old

- my dad is a lot younger and so only has the disease in common with most of them

- definitely focus on younger people with Parkinson's

- thought of as an old people's disease

- when actually 10% of people living with the disease are under the age of 50

- "working age Parkinson's" - the support group my Dad is in

- Parkinson's combined with managing life (ambitions, dreams etc) are made impossible by disease

- Symptoms differ greatly between sufferers... hard to find common ground

- Often assumed young sufferers are drunk or on drugs

- People often think of the disease as 'the shakes' only physical, not cognitive

- Blurred lines between Parkinson's and other disease such as Alzheimers etc

  > so aren't getting the right attention in terms of research

- Young people can visit doctors numerous times before being diagnosed with Parkinson's because their young

- Look at the language I use - Positive

- Because people think of it as an old persons disease, treatment isn't being pushed hard enough

- "its not a sexy disease"

- Look at Robin Williams and Mohammed Ali; two very different types of Parkinson's

- Make people understand the different types?

  > aware of cognitive issues

- Look at forums on Parkinson's UK website

- Advantages + humour - Martinis shaken not stirred etc

Moving Forward

From the answers I got from primary research, it was made clear that I should aim to target the younger people living with the disease as this is an area of the subject that is often neglected as the disease is thought of as an old person's one.

Also, I will aim to produce a campaign that is positive in tone of voice. This is informed by the fact that most if not all the other existing publicity for the disease has been negative and is almost making the viewer feel sorry for the people living with the disease. 

The next decision is the purpose of my design. After debating with my dad, we came to the decision that the best thing to produce would be something aimed at the younger people with the disease. This is informed by the fact that one issue is that younger people with Parkinson's find it harder to find others in their position as most support groups will be mostly older people. The other reason to target the younger people with the disease  is to tackle the issue of it being seen by most as something only older people have to deal with.  

The target audience will be informing the format of my designs. Originally, I thought I would produce posters or flyers to raise awareness. However with the chosen target audience and purpose, it would be much more appropriate to concentrate on the social media presence of the disease as this will be predominantly accessible by the younger people with the disease, preventing them from only finding the older people to talk to and meet.